The National Good

Note: While I posted this nearly three years ago it seems extremely relevant to the debate -- or the lack of true debate -- over health reform and the National Good.

In “The Responsibility Era Starts Now” in the 11/6/06 NYT, Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed point out that as a candidate in 2000 George W. Bush pledged to usher in an Era of Responsibility. Bush and his entourage, of course, have instead gone out their way to spur an Age of Irresponsibility in government and every other facet of national life. However, as the two leading centrist Democrats point out this election may serve as another opportunity to breathe real meaning into what it mean to behave responsibly in 21st Century America.

They argue and I agree wholly that:

“Responsibility begins at the top. That means living up to the highest standards of public service. It means putting the nation’s books in balance, not running the country into debt. Above all, it means doing right by the future by making honest, good-faith efforts to solve the country’s problems, at home and abroad. Citizenship is not an entitlement program. It’s not about giving people a program for every problem; it’s about establishing the tools and conditions that will enable them to make the most of their own lives”

However, it also requires that we act on the fact that each of our fates and that of the Nation is inextricably one.

That is why I would strongly urge that that another word that has all but disappeared from our civil discourse being added to the moniker. What we must seek to usher in is an Era of National Responsibility. Lincoln and Roosevelt led our country through the hell of the Civil War and the Depression by reminding us that our strengths lies in taking responsibility for each others' lives and liberty and thus, the National Good. Not every American of their day embraced their ethic of mutual responsibility. But enough were convinced that the fates of we the people were inextricably linked to make all the difference. The challenge we face is the same. The politics of the right and unfortunately many others is to divide and atomized. Unless we reclaim the idea that we live in one Nation indivisible -- that we live in one America, rather than in "Red or Blue States", our democracy will continue to atrophy.

(Originally posted on Independently Speaking, 11-10-06)